‘She Put in the Work for Sure’ (Exclusive)

In addition to ratcheting up the action and intrigue on season 2 of The Night Agent, the series also welcomes several new key cast members to the ensemble led by star Gabriel Basso, including Amanda Warren, Teddy Sears and the always delightful Brittany Snow.

While largely known for her roles in the Pitch Perfect movie franchise, Hairspray and American Dream, the 38-year-old actress has been mixing it up lately, with stellar turns in the horror movie X, the Oscar-nominated short film Red, White and Blue and on the Basso-led Netflix political action thriller.

On The Night Agent, Snow plays Alice, a mentor to Basso’s Peter Sutherland, a former low-level FBI Agent-turned-rookie Night Agent who finds himself mixed up in a counterintelligence mission to prevent CIA secrets from being sold to the highest bidder. When the new episodes pick back up with Peter in Thailand, it’s Alice who helps shepherd him into the world of Night Action.

Saying much more about her character would spoil the fun, but Snow seamlessly fits into the show — even offering a glimpse of what might have been if she had been originally cast as the cybersecurity entrepreneur Rose Larkin in season 1.

Related: All About ‘The Night Agent’ Star Gabriel Basso

According to Netflix, Snow read for the role. And while the part ultimately went to Luciane Buchanan, creator and showrunner Shawn Ryan was a fan of her audition and decided to bring her back for this recurring role in season 2. It was also a chance for him to reintroduce someone like Snow in a different light, which he found really exciting.

Echoing that sentiment, Basso tells PEOPLE that “she was great” to work with on season 2. “I think she adds something as in the world building as to what this job as a Night Agent entails,” he says. “Like, the fact that we’re both there as Night Agents and looking at us, you probably think I was the senior agent, but she is.”

The actor, 30, adds, “I think it means something to this show that the job expected of them is not the ‘run and gun’ tough guy stuff. Sometimes they need a scalpel.” Additionally, Snow’s presence on the series “subliminally signals to the audience that this job is not just military, smash and grab jobs. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into it.”

If anything, “it was surprising to see how naturally she, as a Night Agent, felt very accurate,” Basso continues, adding that when it came to all the “spying and spycraft stuff, she felt like she was comfortable there.”

Related: The Night Agent Season 2: All About the Thriller’s Highly Anticipated Second Installment

According to Snow, the series (and role) was a chance to try something new, telling Entertainment Weekly in December, “The gun training was reason enough for me to try it.” She also noted, “Not many people think of me being an undercover agent.”

Adding to that, Basso tells PEOPLE, “I know she put a lot of work into the weapons handling stuff with Otis [Gallop], one of the technical advisors we had. She put in the work for sure.”

In fact, handling the weapons is one of the things Basso was most focused on while preparing for season 2. According to the actor, “The acting stuff is pretty reactive. Running is intuitive for me. The fighting is intuitive. I think the biggest thing is just making the weapons handling look realistic.”

He explains that while filming, he would rewatch edits of fights and see things that might not have looked realistic on screen. “It’s a tough thing to do, especially when you’re not actually firing blanks or anything. To have reactions be realistic when a gun’s going off right here [hand motions by his head]. It’s like, everyone involved would react to that,” Basso says.

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Season 2 of The Night Agent premieres Thursday, Jan. 23 only on Netflix.

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